from the which-law-applies-to-the-internet? dept.
BitTorrent Inc demands $5.8 million in damages from BitTorrent Marketing GmbH.
BitTorrent Inc, the parent company of the popular file-sharing applications uTorrent and BitTorrent, is demanding $5.8 million in damages from its German namesake. The San Francisco company accuses Bittorrent Marketing GmbH of misleading prospective users and intercepting sensitive company email. As the owners of two of the most-used BitTorrent clients on the Internet, BitTorrent Inc. is catering to an audience of close to 200 million regular users.
Needless to say there is plenty of interest in the BitTorrent brand, and in some cases this demand is being exploited by third-party companies. One of the outfits that has operated in this space is the German-based Bittorrent Marketing GMBH. [Bittorrent Marketing GmbH] owns the German and European trademark for Bittorrent and has several related domain names such as Bit-Torent.com, Bit-Torrent.com and Bitorrent.net. These domains have been mainly used for advertising, pointing people to paid products.
This has been a thorn in the side for BitTorrent Inc. who launched a lawsuit against its German nemesis two years ago. Since the German company and its owner Harald Hochmann failed to respond in court, BitTorrent is moving for a default judgment. In a filing submitted this week they demand $5.8 million in damages. After a no-show at court, BitTorrent Inc. Is requesting a default judgement against another company that has the same name.
But why should a German company which holds the rights to the trademarks that it is using in Europe have to answer to a US court?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Saturday May 31 2014, @04:12PM
As long as BitTorrent Marketing does not do any business in the US, it certainly is not restricted by US law, and certainly not required to respect US-only trademarks.
Now it may be that they have a legal standing in having established the Bittorrent trademark also in Europe before Bittorrent Marketing GmbH registered it. In which case they might have been more successful by suing in an European court. Or maybe not, depending on the details of the applicable trademark law (IANAL, and I don't know enough about trademark law to even make an educated guess in this case).
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 31 2014, @04:38PM
America, Fuck Yea.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Dr Ippy on Saturday May 31 2014, @06:57PM
It's amusing how Americans seem to think their laws apply worldwide, and that US laws trump other nations' laws.
It's also amusing that an organisation like BitTorrent Inc., whose products are largely used to enable intellectual property infringements, are themselves complaining about an intellectual property infringement.
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(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday May 31 2014, @09:00PM
I'm not aware that their product is used for trademark infringement (and I don't see how it could).
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 1) by Max Hyre on Saturday May 31 2014, @11:42PM
Currently, the Japanese seem to be balking [agweb.com], holding out for more. (Specifically, more protection for some of their agricultural products.) Check out the gory details at Wikileaks' version of the draft [wikileaks.org].
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bradley13 on Sunday June 01 2014, @10:47AM
These two companies have already had a go at this, with a complaint to WIPO, i.e., to an international organization designed to sort out international disputes. You can find the document on bittorrent.eu [bittorrent.eu], among many other documents that the German company has provided for general information.
In a nutshell: Bittorrent was first used, and registered, in Europe by the German company in 2003. The American company complained, but failed to establish any reason why their US-only trademark should have any relevance outside the US. In other words, "BitTorrent, Inc." lost.
The Germany company rightly pointed out: If the American really wanted to take over the domains, trademarks and business that had been established in Europe, they could always make an offer to buy the German company out.
So now the US company files in a US court, counting on the usual arrogance of US courts to claim jurisdiction over the whole world. Sure enough, the US court is all prepared to declare a default judgement, because the Germans didn't bother showing up to a court that - by any logic - has no jurisdiction over them or their trademarks.
Mind you, I have no idea what the German company actually does - are they "good guys" or "bad guys". No idea. It also isn't relevant, because the legal facts of the case seem entirely clear: The German company properly owns and has actively used their name and trademarks for more than 10 years.
Perhaps the Germans should go to a local German court, and demand penalties against the American company. Only: German courts aren't arrogant enough to do that; they understand what is in their jurisdiction, and what isn't...
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 01 2014, @04:40PM
'tis not obvious that they lack imagination and need to "piggy-back"
on a well-known (not necessarily "well understood") technolgy name.
'tis is obviously a german torrent-newbie help site .. right? riiight?!